Runners high Estes Park at XC regional Thursday

The Estes Park Cross Country girls take a few deep breaths during warm ups on Wednesday. The team heads to Lyons Thursday for the Northern Colorado Regional Cross Country Meet.
(
Walt Hester
)

The Estes Park High School Crosscountry team headed to Lyons for the regional championship meet on Thursday. With them was the individual Patriot League champion as well as the girls' championship team, and the boys' third place team. Both boys and girls also carried dreams and expectations of the state meet scheduled for Oct. 27.

The 'Cats have the advantage of familiarity over some squads. The Estes Park runners have visited the course in training, and set personal records on it in competition in two other meets.

The Ladycats carry a lot of hardware into the regional meet having won several invitational meets, as well as the league championship, on Oct. 2. Kelsi Lasota handily won the girl's overall championship, but will need the support of her team if they hope to win the region. Holli Holmes has seen her times fall, as has Bizzy Palmer, Laurel Todd and most of the Ladycats. Each will be fighting for the regional championship, as well as an invitation to the 3A state meet.

On the boys' side, junior Jeff Switzer still has aspirations of a state title. The regional meet is a necessary step to that end. He has set PRs throughout the season, and finally notched an individual win. He would love to pull out something special against Northern Colorado's best.

As with the girls, one runner can't win the team title on his own. Russ Hall will go a long way toward a state meet birth with a great run in Lyons. Along with Kirk McMillan, Garrett Murry, Evan Ginter and Isaac Colden, the entire boys' team needs to put in a special effort.

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They have a little deeper to dig, with a few more tough teams expected to place ahead of the 'Cats, but they have plenty of talent to surprise folks if they aren't ready.

According to the Colorado High School Activities Association, the top five teams in the region will qualify 4 to 8 members, as well as every individual runner finishing in the top 15, for the state meet.

The Colorado 3A Crosscountry championship will be held Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Norris Penrose Event Center and Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs. Check CHSAA.org or estesathletics.org for details and start times.